MusicBarExtended: skinnable music controls for iPhone [Jailbreak]
MusicBarExtended is a skinnable iPod controller for jailbroken iPhones that sits in the status bar until summoned by an Activator gesture. Once activated, MBEx acts a lot like the native pop-up music controls that have been around since iOS 1.x — except a lot more customizable. I bought this extension for the requisite $1.59 on Cydia because I was a little curious, but something about it just doesn’t feel right to me, and I’m not using it as much as I thought I would.
I’ve tried a few of the available skins (MBEx Verendus, MBEX Dman, and the default skin, MBEx Recon) but none of them have really stuck. I think it comes down to the actual buttons feeling far too small, and the animations a little too faint, so that the interface never really feels as “real” as the native alternatives. The status bar is a great place for small icons, but not for small buttons, and I still prefer the pop-up or multitasking iPod controls to the MBEx renditions I’ve tried thus far.
Don’t get me wrong: I think this extension is a great idea, but I think I’ll wait for more advanced skins to pop up before I give it another shot.
